engleski

Sensory processing sensitivity: gender differences and relation to self-esteem

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a relatively stable trait characterized by high sensitivity to stimuli and subtle changes in the environment as well as a tendency to become easily overwhelmed in a stimulating environment. It is related to, but differs from introversion and neuroticism. Although little is known about this subject, the interest for SPS has significantly increased over the last two decades, in general public as well as in scientific research. It is usually assessed by Highly Sensitive Person scale (Aron & Aron, 1997), a 27-item scale developed through a series of studies on SPS, and a shorter 12-item scale for children was also developed, with additional four items for controlling neuroticism (Pluess et al., 2012). Cultures seem to differ in whether they evaluate a trait like SPS as socially desirable or not, which might have a profound effect on the self-esteem of those high in SPS because of their sensitivity and deep processing of external stimuli, especially in adolescent girls. Therefore, we wanted to examine the characteristic of SPS in high school students in Croatia, differentiate SPS from introversion and investigate the existence of gender differences as well as the relation of SPS with self-esteem. The participants were 171 students of a vocational high school aged 14 to 18 who completed a number of questionnaires, including SPS scale for children, Rosenberg self-esteem scale and IPIP extroversion scale. Significant but moderate correlation with introversion indicated adequate distinction of the two constructs. The girls scored higher on SPS scale than boys ; therefore, further analyses were conducted on separate samples. SPS was negatively correlated with self-esteem only for girls, however, after controlling for neuroticism the prediction of self-esteem in regression analysis was no longer significant. The results only partially support the hypotheses, and suggest that the construct should be further examined.

Sensory processing sensitivity; gender differences; self-esteem

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